Interconnecting different plastics component parts is a recurring task in various industrial fields of application. Bonding methods and welding methods are preferably used for this. In fibre-reinforced plastic materials, fibre reinforcement is often not provided in the connection region, i.e. in the region of the bonding surface or welding surface. The strength of the fibre-reinforced plastics material is provided by the combination of the matrix plastics material and the fibres embedded therein. Due to the lack of fibres therein, the connection region of a welded component has a reduced load-bearing capacity, in particular tensile strength. In order to reduce this problem, the glue joints are conventionally made larger or additional securing means, such as “chicken rivets”, are used. Rivets are referred to as chicken rivets when they are not actually necessary when there is a sufficiently sturdy bond in which the connection strength of a glue joint corresponds to the strength of the base material. “Chicken rivets” are also used to prevent spontaneous, i.e. bad or unpredictable, failure of bonds in general. This failure can also be caused by non-uniform mechanical properties in the thickness direction of composite fibre laminates or composite fibre laminate joints. A composite fibre laminate can in principle be described as a bond between individual fibre layers, i.e. the joint region is not fibre-reinforced; there is at most a slightly thicker (a few μm) resin layer.
WO 2011/069899 A2 discloses a joining method, in which a metal sheet is integrated in the connection zone and protruding portions or anchoring pins grip into the adjacent plastics material on either side in order to create meshing which improves the connection between the bonded or welded surfaces.